Uchiha's personal opinion

Uchiha Tokumitsu casually gave a brief explanation.

Subsequently, the secretaries of the Governor's Office and the two houses immediately took notes and, after the meeting, compiled feasible regulations for Uchiha Tokumitsu to review and approve.

"How is the recruitment of the newly formed reserve ninja army progressing?"

"Uchiha Tokumitsu asked."

"Currently, the five standing columns are at full strength and have begun reorganization, while the framework columns have completed the organization of thirteen institutions."

"The Ministry of State Affairs and the Ministry of Finance have allocated the budget for the supplies!"

Mitokado Yan quickly added.

"That will suffice..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu nodded and said nothing more.

Subsequently, Hatake Sakumo and the Uchiha Four Directions assigned tasks to the various departments of Konoha based on the resolutions of the two houses, while Uchiha Tokumitsu did not continue to interfere.

Although Uchiha Tokumitsu's rare attendance at the joint executive meeting had made all the ministers tremble with fear, they calmed down somewhat upon seeing the situation and continued to advance various matters as usual.

……

"Investigate thoroughly! A thorough investigation is absolutely necessary!"

In the capital city government of the Land of Wind, Rasa, who had just taken over as the Fourth Kazekage, was furious and raged in front of a group of high-ranking officials of Sunagakure.

Not long ago, a caravan from the Land of Rivers mysteriously disappeared in the desert. Then yesterday, the newly reorganized joint anti-terrorism special investigation unit stationed in the Land of Wind tracked them down and found the caravan's remains deep in the desert.

The entire caravan of the United Company, numbering nearly a hundred people, was slaughtered, and all the goods they carried disappeared without a trace.

This is an extremely heinous act of murder and robbery!

Originally, due to the special environment of the desert, the joint company did not pay much attention to some minor caravans getting lost. They thought it was just a sudden sandstorm or something that caused them to lose their way temporarily, and at most they would suffer some losses and reappear in a few days.

But unexpectedly, the final news was the devastating annihilation of the entire caravan!

The United Company, accustomed to acting with impunity, could not tolerate such treatment!

Therefore, while the ruling government of the Land of Change and Wind was questioning the suspects, it also began to recruit mercenary ninjas to prepare to hunt down and kill the real culprit after the detectives found him.

For Luo Sha, this was a blatant slap in the face!

He just took over as Kazekage!

They barely had time to warm up before they gave him a taste of their own medicine. These Sand Village ninja are really something!

What's more, everyone in the ninja world knows he has the Shogunate as his ultimate backer! The United Company is even preparing to make appropriate compromises on the tax amount for contracting the Oasis, and at this critical juncture, someone actually dares to undermine him on this matter—they're simply courting death!

Looking at the group of high-ranking members of Sunagakure, Luo Sha found them all increasingly suspicious.

"Investigate thoroughly!"

After a long while, Luo Sha, having calmed down, slowly said, "This matter must be investigated to the end! Whoever is responsible, they must be severely punished!"

Chapter 409 Cold Hands and Feet

The Konoha Standing Ninja Army and reserve scaffolded units are taking shape, while the Kumogakure and Iwagakure military preparations are accelerating.

However, due to limitations in national strength, Iwagakure and Kumogakure, supported only by the Land of Earth and most of the Land of Lightning, were unable to compete with the three major powers of the Shogunate in terms of both manpower and financial resources.

Onoki and the Third Raikage were well aware of this.

No matter how arrogant and conceited the noble daimyo may be, if they, as ninjas, cannot even accurately assess the most basic strength comparisons, they are probably not far from death.

According to information from Kumogakure, Kirigakure, after being annexed by the Shogunate, suffered heavy losses after the Battle of Myoang, but subsequently began to revitalize itself after receiving massive resources from the Shogunate.

After the Blood Mist policy, which pursued "quick and easy" results, was completely abolished, the new generation of Kirigakure ninjas, while less ruthless, greatly improved in both numbers and discipline. Under the unified planning of the shogunate, they were incorporated into various ninja army units, greatly strengthening the power of the Tokugawa shogunate.

Moreover, according to the intelligence system of the Hidden Cloud Village, the Hidden Mist Village may play an even greater role than the Hidden Leaf Village in the Shogunate system. This is because Uchiha Tokumitsu has completely unrestricted supreme power in the Hidden Mist Village. With the assistance of the three major ninja clans who are his henchmen, he can even deploy all the Hidden Mist Village ninjas to the battlefield!

The Hidden Cloud Village originally planned to send people to Kirigakure to do something, as was their past practice, such as assassinating outstanding young talents or seizing bloodline ninjas. However, the ships patrolling the ocean were all the shogunate's heavily armored warships with powerful cannons, so the Hidden Cloud Village ninjas could not infiltrate the Land of Water on a large scale. Therefore, they could only anxiously watch the Kirigakure information sent back by their intelligence agents.

Under the secret instructions of Uchiha Tokumitsu, Kirigakure, under the leadership of Minazuki Chino, began to build a semi-full-time ninja army of about three thousand people as a reserve force for the shogunate.

The reason why a larger ninja army was not formed was mainly because most of the Kirigakure ninjas had already accepted employment with the United Company for overseas service and could not return for the time being.

Therefore, the tension between Kumogakure and Iwagakure is actually understandable.

However, after the mysterious man known as "Ashura," who was introduced by the Daimyo of the Land of Earth as an envoy from the two holy lands of Mount Myōboku and Ryūchi Cave, appeared before everyone, Ōnoki's tension eased a little.

Although he later tried to obtain the sacred land's magic, Ashura politely declined, citing his unsuitability. However, the summoning beast contract scrolls from the sacred land began to be distributed in unlimited quantities. Although the summoning beasts that signed the contracts were not the so-called summoning beasts with the sacred land's magic, even ordinary ninja frogs and ninja snakes greatly enhanced the combat power of Kumogakure and Iwagakure.

Ashura, who had successfully gained ground in the two major ninja villages, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although the ninjas who signed the Holy Land Summoning Beast Contract were forbidden by Onoki and the Third Raikage from summoning the beasts without permission in order to conceal information and catch the Shogunate off guard in the future, this was still a milestone achievement for Mount Myōboku.

However, ever since the secret meeting, Ashura has been preoccupied with one thing.

That was the "Iwagakure ninjas collectively spying on urinating and defecating" incident that the unfortunate Land of Earth official had mentioned.

Perhaps due to some errors in his memories after reincarnation, Ashura felt that there might be something strange about this matter, but he could not recall any related events or people. However, driven by instinct, he still asked Onoki to accompany the Iwagakure Special Military Discipline Investigation Team south to investigate this matter.

Considering that Ashura brought the summoning contracts of the two holy lands, Onoki readily agreed. Thus, Ashura disguised himself as an Iwagakure ANBU member and went south with the team.

……

The economic situation in the Land of Earth is very bad.

Although he was in a hurry, Ashura still took note of the local customs and culture of the Land of Earth.

Even compared to the small countries under the rule of the shogunate, the towns and cities that Ashura saw along the way appeared desolate and dilapidated, exuding an indescribable air of decline. The common people were also "simply dressed in an ancient style" and had sallow complexions.

Apart from a few towns that were licensed and operated by joint companies and were somewhat vibrant, most of the towns in the Land of Earth appeared lifeless and devoid of any vitality.

However, the Iwagakure ninjas heading south seemed to have long been accustomed to this and didn't find anything wrong with it at all.

After probing, Ashura discovered that, compared to Josuke Uchiha, whom he had once captured, the Iwagakure ninjas seemed to have no regard for civilians or the economy. All they cared about was whether their monthly military allowances were paid on time and whether their weapons were up to standard. They also liked to compare how luxurious their newly built mansions at the Iwagakure headquarters were, and when chatting, they would boast about how they would fight their way in and out of the Konoha ninja army seven times in the future war. As for everything outside the ninja village, they didn't care at all.

It seems that... these ninjas have nothing else in their hearts besides missions and killing.

Oh... no, there's also reproduction...

During breaks, Ashura, wearing an Iwagakure ANBU mask, always felt somewhat uncomfortable listening to the ninjas boast about how "plump" their captured wives and concubines were.

What exactly is going on...?

Ashura was once again filled with a huge question mark.

Is this justice?

The ninja way, which had begun to waver since the Battle of Toba-Fushimi, was once again impacted.

"What is Mr. Da Luo thinking about?"

"Iwagakure Survey Team leader Akatsuchi came up and said."

"Da Luo" was a nickname Ashura temporarily gave himself according to the rules of the Anbu, while Akatsuchi was the only one among the Iwagakure ninja who knew Ashura's identity as an envoy of the Holy Land.

"I remember that Iwagakure is probably the most united ninja village in the ninja world, right?"

Asura asked.

"That's absolutely right!"

Speaking of this, Akatsuchi said with a proud expression, "Under the guidance and instruction of the Will of Stone, the tenacious Iwagakure ninja fought bravely in the war..."

"So, the local military commander didn't take what happened in the south seriously and directly covered it up, is that right?"

Ashura pointed out an embarrassing problem: "If the nobles hadn't jointly reported it, would the actions of the culprit Iwagakure have remained unknown?"

"Therefore, the existence of nobles is very necessary, as they can also indirectly restrain some unauthorized ninjas."

Although Akatsuki's face was slightly flushed, he did not offer any explanation.

Because such matters can be easily uncovered through investigation, and covering them up only makes one appear petty: "Of course, even in Iwagakure, it's inevitable that some scoundrels will emerge. After all, with the expansion of the Ninja Army, some aspects of education have lagged behind..."

Is that all?

Ashura countered with a question.

"if not?!"

Akatsuchi was somewhat displeased, but considering Ashura's identity, he patiently continued his rambling.

"It seems the ninja village has shown a rather unusual leniency towards the plundering of civilians?"

Ashura points out a problem mentioned in the report submitted by Onoki and the nobles during their secret meeting.

It seems that local nobles in the Land of Earth, central government officials, and high-ranking officials in ninja villages all showed a high degree of tolerance for ninjas robbing money, but held extremely strict standards for "ninjas peeping at people urinating and defecating," which offended the dignity of nobles.

"How can that be called looting..."

Akatsuchi frowned upon hearing this. "As protectors of the Land of Earth, we would not create such trouble within our own country, and besides, the Iwagakure ninja..."

Ashura didn't speak, but simply pointed to the two Iwagakure ninjas who were leaping back through the stone forest.

Those were people who went out to collect food.

Akatsuchi looked closely and found that the two Iwagakure members were simply carrying goats and sacks, with nothing particularly special about them.

"The bloodstains on their bodies..."

Akatsuchi remained indifferent, but Ashura grew increasingly displeased. "That's not the smell of wild animal blood. I don't think Captain Akatsuchi can't tell the difference, can he?"

"The smell of blood?"

Chitu was somewhat confused.

How can you distinguish the taste and species of blood from such a distance?

He immediately became interested.

He had intended to take this opportunity to ask how she did it, but Ashura stood up and vanished in an instant, leaving only the words, "I'll be back in an hour..."

One hour is also the original departure time.

Akatsuchi frowned, feeling somewhat bewildered.

But then he just shook his head and yelled at the two Iwagakure ninjas who had just landed, "You two bastards! Why did you waste so much time!"

With little time left to rest, and the need to prepare live sheep for food, Akatsuchi and his Iwagakure ninja were naturally unhappy.

"This place is so remote..."

One of the Iwagakure ninjas complained as he threw the goat on his shoulder and the sack in his hand to the ground.